Word: antitrust
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...Yale law professor, contended that Kennedy-Metzenbaum is symptomatic of a new anti-bigness mentality in the highest reaches of Government. Though most conference participants felt that large companies compete as ferociously and fairly as small firms, they were told by Economist Walter Adams of Michigan State University that antitrust has political as well as economic elements. Said he: "The objective of antitrust is not to promote efficiency and consumer welfare. These are only ancillary benefits that are expected to flow from economic freedom. The primary purpose of antitrust is to perpetuate and preserve, in spite of possible cost...
...most participants, the real question was: If no one can prove that bigness is bad, then why ban it? To Irving Shapiro, chairman of E.I. du Pont de Nemours, the concept amounted to "no fault antitrust." In other words, it penalized companies simply for being more successful than their competitors...
Since both the extent and the effects of industrial concentration are uncertain, most speakers favored a go-slow policy to sort out the facts before trying to enact new antitrust legislation. Said Du Pont's Shapiro: "In view of our domestic economic needs and our international competitive problems, we would do well not to go off on major, and perhaps irreversible, social experiments until there are convincing reasons...
...foreign trade particularly, the U.S. is already suffering from its restrictive antitrust laws, which hold American companies to tougher standards overseas than competing foreign firms must meet. Kennedy-Metzenbaum would aggravate the problem. Though big U.S. companies would be stopped from buying up others at home, foreign investors would be allowed to come in and continue acquiring almost as much as they want. Said Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, a Judiciary Committee member who has fought hard against the bill: "We are at a time in our history when we should be doing all in our power to make...
...have to prove that a proposed merger might hurt competition, but the company wanting to expand would have to prove that competition would actually increase. Economist MacAvoy suggested that this approach was little more than a power play to make it easier for the Government to prove its antitrust cases. But, he contended, "the burden of proof should rest with the Michael Pertschuks of this world." The FTC is already empowered to act as both the prosecutor and judge in antitrust cases, and Senator Hatch is drafting legislation to transfer the judge's role back to the courts...